Nigerians have been having issues of cash shortages and scarcity after the naira redesign by the apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This has however led to the adoption of its CBDC called eNaira.
In a country where cash accounts for about 90% of transactions, the lack of physical cash has forced Nigerians to turn to the eNaira.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, the value of eNaira transactions has increased by 63% to 22 billion nairas ($47.7 million), indicating a growing adoption of the CBDC. Furthermore, the total number of eNaira wallets has grown more than 12 times compared to October 2022, and is currently at 13 million, as reported by Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The demonetization, which reduced the circulating cash supply from 3.2 trillion nairas to 1 trillion nairas, prompted Nigeria to mint over 10 billion eNairas to compensate for the decline. The use of eNaira payouts in government initiatives and social schemes has also contributed to the increase in CBDC adoption.
In addition to the increased adoption of the eNaira, Nigerians have also been presented with another option for procuring cryptocurrencies. MetaMask’s parent firm ConsenSys recently announced a new MoonPay integration, which allows Nigerians to purchase crypto via bank transfers. This new feature is available within the MetaMask mobile and Portfolio DApp, significantly simplifying buying crypto without using credit or debit cards in Nigeria.